A North American Indigenous Narrative-based Inquiry of Culture and Land

This research uses a narrative cultural inquiry study to address the need to save the land our Mother Earth (Aki) and the relationship with Indigenous Spirituality through the topics/themes of Spirit Houses, Sa'be (Sasquatch) and Sacred landscape features such as Spiritual Sites, Ceremony and Pictographs within the geography of Turtle Island, North America in Northern Ontario, Canada. The rationale of this study was to address the larger inaadiziwin (philosophy) of Indigenous character and way of life with nature or “All My Relations” for the author.

The Social and Solidarity Economics, Public Policies, and Non-Monetary Economic Practices

The prevailing economic and social model contains great inequalities. Against this backdrop, the Republic of Ecuador, in its constitution of 2008, included recognizing ancestral practices at an economic and social level and granting special protection to “mother earth” or Pachamama based on the common element of solidarity between ecosystems and human beings. Despite this, continuous growth processes have blunted some of the tools and institutions created in Ecuador to redress poverty and rebalance existing economic and regulatory abuses. To analyze this situation, a series of group interviews were carried out in two communities of Loja (Ecuador) to analyze the scope and continuity of current ancestral practices and the effectiveness of processes established in the social economy. The analysis shows the lack of continuity of these practices and their associated benefits for people and communities with limited resources.

Sustainable Management of Construction and Demolition Waste

Construction activity in India has magnified well within the past decade. Likewise, there has conjointly been a proportion to rise within the generation of construction and demolition waste (C&DW). This, alongside the fact that in India the speed of recycling and reuse of C&DW continues to be quite low and has engendered a heavy environmental downside and a motivation to develop ways and management plans to resolve it. Almost every time the construction and demolition waste end up settling in landfills disrupting the environmental, economic, and social life cycle. Its composition has a significant potential to reuse or recycle C&DW, and thereby, contribute to enhancing the sustainability of construction, however, practical procedures don’t seem to be widely known or practiced within the construction industry. Elements of construction and demolition waste generally embrace concrete, asphalt, wood, metals, roofing, paper, plastic, drywall, and glass. Sustainable development defines as accomplishing the current requirements without compromising the ability of future generations to satisfy their own needs and can be thought of as one of the concrete solutions to resolve construction and demolition waste downside. Sustainable development in construction can facilitate plenty to cut back the issues associated with the environment and natural resources as the construction industry is among the major user of the world’s resources. Sustainable design, correct use, and reuse of the resources/construction materials can create the construction industry a lot more economical and greener. There’s conjointly a large demand for natural aggregates within the construction sector with a big gap in its demand and supply, which may even be reduced marginally by the employment of recycling and reuse of construction and demolition waste. Correct handling, storage, and treatment of C&D waste not only solely forestall degradation of Mother Earth but even have an important impact on sustainability using reducing the usage of natural resources. The paper covers various issues associated with the reusing and recycling of C&D waste, which needs restrictive mechanisms and procedures to be followed for achieving the aim of sustainability in the construction industry.

Gendering a Sacred Nature: Between Essentialism and Queer; Insights from a Study on Eco-Spiritual Activism in Switzerland

Among eco-spiritual activists in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, gendered notions such as “Mother Earth” or gendered “nature spirits” are ubiquitous. Drawing on an in-depth ethnographic study of this milieu (2015–2020), this article presents some of the ways in which these activists articulate gender issues with reference to nature. The authors discuss the centrality of the notion of the self and ask what outputs emerge from linking environmental with spiritual action. We demonstrate that activists in three milieus—the New Age and holistic milieu, the transition network, and neo-shamanism—handle this link differently and thereby give birth to a variety of emic perspectives upon the nature/culture divide, as well as upon gender—ranging from essentialist and organicist views to queer approaches. The authors also present more recent observations on the increasing visibility of women and feminists as key public speakers. They conclude with the importance of contextualizing imaginaries that circulate as universalistic and planetary and of relating them to individuals’ gendered selves and their social, political, and economic capital.

The prophet, the mother, the avenger: An examination of Gaia's cult worship and the "bricolage" in her myth

<p>This thesis is a study of the cult of the Greek goddess Gaia (Gē). Gaia’s cult has long been interpreted by scholars though the lens of her mythical roles. She featured in literature as the mother of the Titans, as an oracular goddess at Delphi, and as the mythical mother of Erichthonios; she is also a force that watched over curses and oaths. Her cult has been most strongly associated with Delphi, where she was part of the Previous Owners myth, a tradition that made her the primary goddess at Delphi before Apollo took over. She is also strongly associated with Athens, where almost all of our literary evidence comes from. Early 20th century scholarship characterised Gaia as a universally-worshipped “Mother Earth” figure; more specifically, she has been identified as the Greek version of the Anatolian Mother Goddess, Kybele. Gaia’s cult worship as an oracular goddess and as a mother figure is overstated, and I argue that these associations are examples of confirmation bias. In this thesis, I examine the sources for both myth and cult to establish where the boundaries lie between the two, both through re-examination of the primary sources and through a critical appraisal of secondary discussions. To compare, I examine the positive evidence for Gaia’s cult, with a particular focus on the epigraphical evidence, including a 5th century BCE statue base and inscriptions from the 4th century BCE that describe a ἱερόν of Gaia at Delphi and Attic deme calendars that provide sacrifices to Gaia, some of which are expensive. Further evidence is offered by Pausanias and Plutarch, who attest to a sanctuary of Gaia at Delphi in the 1st and 2nd centuries CE, cults of Gē Kourotrophos and Gē Themis in Athens, and other cults of Gaia elsewhere. I also explore the significance of Gaia as the mother of Ericthonios, the autochthonous founder of Athens, in myth and Athenian literature. I conclude that Gaia was not worshipped at Delphi before the 5th century BCE. Gaia was receiving cult worship in Athens from the 5th century BCE in the form of deme sacrifices. Also in Athens, Gaia’s worship as Gē Themis appears arounds the 4th century BCE, while Pausanias attests to a temple of Gē Kourotrophos on the acropolis. Before the time of Pausanias, Kourotrophos appears to be a separate deity. Finally, I conclude that Gaia rarely receives cult worship under the epithet “Meter” and cannot be identified as the Greek version of Anatolian Kybele.</p>

The prophet, the mother, the avenger: An examination of Gaia's cult worship and the "bricolage" in her myth

<p>This thesis is a study of the cult of the Greek goddess Gaia (Gē). Gaia’s cult has long been interpreted by scholars though the lens of her mythical roles. She featured in literature as the mother of the Titans, as an oracular goddess at Delphi, and as the mythical mother of Erichthonios; she is also a force that watched over curses and oaths. Her cult has been most strongly associated with Delphi, where she was part of the Previous Owners myth, a tradition that made her the primary goddess at Delphi before Apollo took over. She is also strongly associated with Athens, where almost all of our literary evidence comes from. Early 20th century scholarship characterised Gaia as a universally-worshipped “Mother Earth” figure; more specifically, she has been identified as the Greek version of the Anatolian Mother Goddess, Kybele. Gaia’s cult worship as an oracular goddess and as a mother figure is overstated, and I argue that these associations are examples of confirmation bias. In this thesis, I examine the sources for both myth and cult to establish where the boundaries lie between the two, both through re-examination of the primary sources and through a critical appraisal of secondary discussions. To compare, I examine the positive evidence for Gaia’s cult, with a particular focus on the epigraphical evidence, including a 5th century BCE statue base and inscriptions from the 4th century BCE that describe a ἱερόν of Gaia at Delphi and Attic deme calendars that provide sacrifices to Gaia, some of which are expensive. Further evidence is offered by Pausanias and Plutarch, who attest to a sanctuary of Gaia at Delphi in the 1st and 2nd centuries CE, cults of Gē Kourotrophos and Gē Themis in Athens, and other cults of Gaia elsewhere. I also explore the significance of Gaia as the mother of Ericthonios, the autochthonous founder of Athens, in myth and Athenian literature. I conclude that Gaia was not worshipped at Delphi before the 5th century BCE. Gaia was receiving cult worship in Athens from the 5th century BCE in the form of deme sacrifices. Also in Athens, Gaia’s worship as Gē Themis appears arounds the 4th century BCE, while Pausanias attests to a temple of Gē Kourotrophos on the acropolis. Before the time of Pausanias, Kourotrophos appears to be a separate deity. Finally, I conclude that Gaia rarely receives cult worship under the epithet “Meter” and cannot be identified as the Greek version of Anatolian Kybele.</p>

Optimization Technique for Reducing Energy Consumption of Rapid Transit Mode

Since the time, our mother earth was created, energy was taken from the universe(System),now energy is being depleted as non-renewable source. Energy can neither be created nor be destroyed as it transforms in one form to another. So researchers came up with renewable source of energy as the solution like solar, wind and tidal waves. The world is experiencing an energy crisis and the prices of petroleum products like petrol and diesel has gone up. So its time to come forward and save the future of our mother earth. The paper deals in reducing energy consumption of rail rapid transit mode i.e. of metro. It shows how driving behaviour can be controlled using optimized speed profile and efficiency can be managed. It states round trip data taken of Mumbai(India) metro from Versova to Ghatkopar and viceversa. Speed data was taken from GPS(Global Postioning System) embedded in Smart watch Software. Time interval was noted and distance, acceleration data was formulated using Newtons Equations of Motion. Energy Consumed was drawn out from tractive effort data. Then efficiency, energy lost and regenerative braking energy was calculated using Work Energy Theorem. Maximum efficiency of 88.27% was obtained between Asalpha to Jagruti Nagar Station while between Western Express Highway to Andheri Station a 72.66% efficiency was analysed. This affects the time interval of metro trains arriving at station, also the amount of boarding and alighting passengers from the train. A model was designed and simulated using results obtained. The paper also deals with the prototype of Regenerative energy which can either be used in braking systems but also for acceleration and cruising purpose. The idea can benefit a developing country like India where 6.3% GDP is from Transportation Industry. Keywords: optimized speed profile, efficiency, regenerative braking energy

For more United Nations rule-of-law “win-win” technical assistance outcomes amid migration

This article focuses on the universal and time-honored Golden Rule, collo- quially known as “win-win”– a technical cooperation strategy, pursued in crime prevention and other fields. In particular, the article ventures into John Rawls’s difference principle for the United Nations-inspired Rule- of-Law cooperation for crime prevention to meet sustainable development goal 10 of the 2030 United Nations Agenda (“Reduce inequality within and among countries”). His liberally egalitarian principle regards inequality as reasonable (justice as fairness) as long as it would make the least advantaged in society materially better off than they would be under strict equality. In line with the United Nations Charter establishing the duty to cooperate, the author looks into the principle’s Global North-South applicability, relevant especially for the Rule-of-Law impact on the benefactors and beneficiaries of the two major economic development initiatives: the 2019–2021 Blue Dot Network/Built Back Better World (BDN/B3W) and the 2013 Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), both prone to migration flows. In their context he offers intercultural rationale and suggestions for a North-South crime prevention technical cooperation glocal86 approach that should be programmatically driven by universally relevant anti-corruption. Finally, the author alerts to the need of bringing into the North-South technical cooperation relationship people’s regard of Mother Earth (“triple wins”) and strategize that cooperation accordingly for a truly better world.

CLIMATE CHANGE – ITS IMPACT ON OUR BEHAVIOR AND WHY WE NEED TO CHANGE IT NOW

Our days today begin with news either of the varying statistics of the COVID-19 cases, tragedies of prejudicial discrimination,follies of policy-makers,horrifying terrorist attacks and more dreary information that are not only grave but also petrifying.Amongst these,the global concern that touches all living creatures is the news of our weary planet. st th COP26 or the UN Climate Summit 2021 is going to take place for 2 weeks from the 31 of October to the 12 of November in Glasgow and it has been the matter of the moment for the past few weeks.The cause is unsurprising and is frankly long overdue.Climate change is an upsetting phenomenon,both for our planet and its inhabitants.Our persistent activities of pleasure for personal gain at the expense of Mother Earth can no longer be put up with. Not by our planet, not by the future generations.Their survival and ours solely depends on us fixing our current ways.While the prospect is daunting, fear cannot be our barrier.Our present psychological mindsets need a jolt.It is now essential that we step past the fear of change to make the change possible for we are hanging by a thread at the end of the rope with a fire beneath. The consequences are cataclysmic,and we are our only hope.